


Waiting on Cars

by CitizenoftheWorld



Category: K-pop, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Behind the Scenes, Brotherhood, Canon Compliant, Gen, Idol Jeon Jungkook, Idol Jung Hoseok | J-Hope, Idol Kim Namjoon | RM, Idol Kim Seokjin | Jin, Idol Kim Taehyung | V, Idol Min Yoongi | Suga, Idol Park Jimin (BTS), Inspired by Real Events, Jimin and his fears, Jungkook and assertiveness, Media Controversy, Other, Reciepts in the Notes, Snippets, Yoongi and Namjoon have been friends for 10 years, discussions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 04:29:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19822552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CitizenoftheWorld/pseuds/CitizenoftheWorld
Summary: Behind what we see on social media on the following:Fans see Jungkook as nothing more than a baby, according to what happened at the fan sign.Reporters at the MOTSP press conference want to know BTS’s stance regarding plagiarism controversy, and Jimin fears the worst.In a video addressing the college entrance exam Yoongi wants to tell you that school is not that important, and Namjoon cuts him off.[Bangtan waits on cars]





	Waiting on Cars

**Author's Note:**

> This story will touch on controversial things that happened to BTS recently (begin this year,) and also one thing that was perceived as something funny to the fandom.
> 
> **If you want receipts keep reading the notes. If you want to be surprised (as far as that’s possible given the description), you can go ahead and read the story. Mind the tags!**
> 
> The first part of this story is inspired by the events at a fan sign. BTS got gifts, and one fan gave Jungkook a baby bonnet. They did this probably because they thought Jungkook = maknea. It was not received well, [this](https://pann-choa.blogspot.com/2019/04/enter-talk-can-you-stop-giving-stuff.html) is the translated Korean media’s response to it and a similar sentiment was shared with international fans. However there was also a group of people that found this a nonsense discussion and another episode of fans being butthurt over nothing.
> 
> Second part concerns the press conference BTS held for Map of the Soul: Persona (MOTSP). It was very out there, if you asked me. BigHit really pulled out the big guns with how extensive the conference was (the big stage, the goodies for the reporters, the extra video message from Halsey, the aesthetics…) _Very cool, bravo!_ On top of that, it was live broadcasted, by both BighHit and various news outlets. So obviously the main controversy that came from this was a reporter (supposedly he worked for X Entertainment (you know, when you know)) asked the members their thoughts on a French artist thinking the Blood Sweat and Tears MV was a rip off of his work, in other words: Plagiarism. Jimin’s reaction to this can be seen [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPfU4e-P-4k&t=4s) at minute 28:39 (for full translations on the conference, just a quick YT search will do, transcript is also in the description). Aside from that fans criticised the lack of meaningful questions asked during the conference.
> 
> Lastly. In [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbZk2KSTnIE) video BTS are wishing fans good luck on their entrance collage exam. Yoongi wanted to share a more rebellious opinion on the matter, but Namjoon cut him off before he could get in too much. Fans found it [funny](https://twitter.com/giggleyoon/status/1147159089530757122), there was no real controversy. (Some of the reactions were among the lines of: _I like Yoongi, because he keeps it real_. If I may: Now what does this mean for Namjoon?)
> 
> Note that I was inspired by these events, and that if things do not go like they really did, that should be because this is fan fiction.
> 
> So yeah. If you’re still here; go ahead and enjoy the story. Let me know what you think!

### [Fanservice]

Jungkook felt his face itching as he tried to hide the sickening feeling in his stomach behind a smile.

The string itched underneath his chin as the bow tie had been pulled a little too tight. He tutted his lips and closed his eyes. The shutters at the other end of the room went crazy. High pitched voices went “oooh!” “Just like a baby!” “ _baby Kooki_ is so cute” “forever the youngest!”

The fan who had put on the baby bonnet on his head smiled proudly and waved before she moved on to greet Taehyung. Jungkook wanted to immediately take off the bonnet but the interval between fans was two members before him. Yoongi was pointedly free, mic in hand and loudly wondering what the fans were cooing over. He followed the shift of attention in the room and met Jungkook’s eyes. It was the subtle change in the how his lips were no longer perked upwards. Was Jungkook’s face that telling? He forced a bigger smile on his face and greeted the fan shuffling in front of him. _Hello, what’s your name…. where are you from… wow you travelled all the way here…_

“Aah, of course it’s Jungkook that you’re all fussing over,” Yoongi spoke in the background. Jungkook could hear how Yoongi’s voice was insincere in how cheerful he sounded. “You guys know that he’s 21, right? He is a man now! The strongest amongst us.” Seokjin jokingly jumped in to simultaneously agree and disagree because he felt like he should defend his honour.

The fan signing went on like usual. The interval reached Jungkook and he got the chance to take off the bonnet – _aahw, Kooki keep it on!_

Jungkook ended up looking at Yoongi. The elder had his head resting on his hands symbolising a flower. He was making faces with his eyes closed and played to the reaction of the fans and the never ending sound of camera shutters. Yoongi initially had a hard time getting with the concepts idol events followed. He was against all things _aegyo_ or even flowery concepts. Yet here he was, after over half a decade in the industry and he got with it. He didn’t bat an eye at what was demanded from him. He had little shame these days, and Jungkook wondered when he himself had became sour at such concepts. He wanted to not care like Yoongi – and even Namjoon – had come to learn. But the hot feeling in his chest and on his cheeks only affirmed that there was both rage and embarrassment every time Jungkook got thrown in such situations.

A baby bonnet… it felt even childlike to be upset about something like that.

“Happy now?” Yoongi asked after picking up his mic, he had a coy smile on his face. “I gave you guys all the cute pictures, didn’t I?”

-

“You know, you can ask management to prohibit those type of things.”

Jungkook looked up from his seat in the waiting room. Yoongi, Jimin and him were going to share a car together. The others were already gone. Yoongi had spoken right after their manager had left the room to check on their car situation. None of the staff was here to hear this conversation. If they had been, they probably would have gone out of there way to comply with Yoongi’s suggestion. Yoongi probably only spoke now to leave the choice completely to Jungkook.

Jimin, splayed on the couch, looked up from his phone and the pictures he had taken. One look at Yoongi and he sensed that something was going on. Jungkook merely sank deeper in his chair.

“I don’t care about that,” Jungkook said lowly.

Jimin narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, sure,” he said unconvinced and sat up, and looked at Yoongi. “You’re talking about the baby bonnet thing, right?” Yoongi nodded. “You should say something, Jungkook,” Jimin urged looking at Jungkook again. “It’s not stupid. You know that Hoseok also talked with management and got rid of all the horse gifts.” 

“That’s because he had a valid point,” Jungkook countered. “I will just sound whiny and ungrateful.”

“You’re being unreasonable right now,” Jimin said. “If it had been the other way around and it would have been me that would demanded this, would you call me whiny?”

Jungkook adverted his eyes. If it had been Jimin speaking up he would have probably be impressed with how assertive he was being. Thinking himself being like that seemed too farfetched. It was always easier to be your own hater rather than lover. Jungkook was too concerned with what other people would think of him and even he could admit that it was a problem. He wanted to be like Seokjin, careless and _not_ uncomfortable when doing silly acts. He wanted to be okay with stating what he liked without trying too hard not to seem like the young one – like the child that needed guiding.

The manager entered the room again. With a swift motion and few words they made clear the car was ready for them. As they walked in silence the unfinished conversation weighted heavy in the air. It was only after fifteen minutes of pure silence that Jungkook understood that neither Yoongi or Jimin would bring it up again. They had said what they had wanted nonetheless.

“I’ll think about it,” Jungkook said breaking the silence. They both looked up. Yoongi nodded, seemingly satisfied. Jimin let his gaze linger a bit longer – maybe wanting to say more - but he too nodded and let Jungkook be. They couldn’t ask more from him. And he wasn’t lying. He would think about it. He should.

### [Press conference]

It was a rude reporter. Bringing up things from three years ago because of a dispute between their agency and a low-life artist- that was too specific, too targeted. It was a reporter out for a reaction - for either one of the members to trip over their words. It was however not that farfetched with how the other questions from the other reporters embodied mild curiosity and frustration:

_How come you have never had a big scandal? How come you are still together?_

Rude questions it was, Jimin supposed. But this particular question was stupid, but smoothly handled by Yoongi. Namjoon had tried to interpret the question differently, more naively, and actually giving the reporter an out to omit creating a bad mood – but the reporter had been set.

_A French artist accused you of plagiarizing his work in your music video clip of Blood Sweat and Tears. Any thoughts?_

What made Jimin feel less happy to be on that stage was the fact that no one had stopped this reporter. There were guidelines on what this press conference was supposed to be about. All the reporters had been briefed and somewhat checked, but now…

If there was one rude reporter willing to ask such a stupid question, what else could be awaiting them? What if one of the other reporters were also out for a real reaction. _No big scandal…_ Jimin could think of one big scandal. He felt tremendously responsible for carelessly wearing a clothing item like that. Seeing it blow up like a wild fire that was waiting for a strong wind was the scary part. In the end it made Jimin realise that people were set to see them fail. Rude reporters don’t care about guidelines.

Jimin looked over at Namjoon. He had completely missed what the next question was looking at the talking leader. Namjoon would probably deal with the difficult question, even when it was directed at Jimin. Yoongi would probably help him out. Even though that whole shirt scandal was Jimin’s own responsibility. Jimin should be able to mean much more than just a comforting shoulder in situations like this.

But truth been told, he would not know how to react if someone were to ask him such a scandalous question.

“Jimin,” that was a voice coming from the sea of reporters. Jimin couldn’t locate the person, so settled for politely glancing ahead of him, eyes slowly roaming the crowed. “I want to ask your opinion on the following: what do you think of all the logs that you guys filmed back in the old days. You sure must feel like you’ve come a long way from back then. You were all so young back then.”

The startled laugh that escaped Jimin’s mouth was relief driven.

“Ah, yeah those,” Jimin said and listened to how the camera’s tried to capture the smile lingering on his face. “If there is one thing that I resent my members for it would be them not stopping me from doing all the cringy things I used to do back then.”

Polite laughter. Short banter followed. They were in the clear.

-

“Can they just do that?”

“I mean they’re journalists…”

“Yeah, and this is a press conference on our album. Not past issues.”

“Well, we can’t check everyone.”

“I just don’t get why… why would someone attack us like that? What do they gain? It’s like social-suicide for them.”

Jimin sat up a little straighter in his seat. Fruit and coffee in a waiting room with staff. The members were discussing the problematic reporter, the lack of real questions during the conference and now speculating on a motive.

Not everyone was as heated on this. For example Taehyung was passed out on a couch. He had a long night filled with separate shootings and fittings. This press conference was ill timed for him. Namjoon had stayed quiet al along, the same as Hoseok. But different from the dance leader, Namjoon was not judgingly eying the conversation. He was gazing ahead of him, probably braindead from all the talking. Seokjin, Yoongi and Jungkook were mostly voicing their opinion. 

Jimin cleared his throat to also participate in the discussion. “I think we should not forget that we still have enemies.”

Seokjin giggled next to him and coolly took a sip from his coffee. “This is not an anime, Jimin. We don’t have enemies like that.”

“What would you call it then?” Jungkook asked Seokjin.

The singer shrugged and finished his coffee. “Haters. But no enemies. See enemies have a life. This reporter does not.”

“I think Jimin is not wrong, though,” Hoseok said after being quiet. “There are still people out there who will hate us like that. They’re less than before, but they’re still lurking. We should stay alert. They’re just waiting for us to make the smallest mistake.”

“So what?”

That was Taehyung. His eyes were still closed and he seemingly did not note the tension in the room. As all eyes were on him, he slowly opened his own and belatedly realized the attention he got. “Oh, come on. I just mean, we can’t fight everything. Worrying over this won’t resolve anything. Let’s just be ourselves and breathe, right?”

Yoongi sipped on his coffee and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you’re right.”

Was he? Was it that simple. “But we have to be careful,” Jimin insisted.

“Who says we aren’t already?” Taehyung countered. “Know our songs, Jimin. Haters are going to hate. We got to live a life.”

So curt and bold. But-

“I can’t help but worry,” Jimin said.

It got quiet in an uneasy way. They knew what he was thinking about. It went like this when one of them suddenly dropped something so real and close to themselves.

“Well,” Seokjin said quietly, “for what it’s worth; you’re not alone.”

That was all, really. That was all they got at the end of a day like this; when they were showing one persona while hiding the other. Jimin closed his mouth. He no longer participated in the discussion. He settled for what Taehyung had to offer.

_Live a life man_

### [Two brothers fight]

When a PR manager asked the members of Bangtan to shoot a video encouraging their fans who would be taking the college entrance exam right after their concert, two rappers were already clenching their teeth over up frustration regarding their performance.

Sure, they shot the video. It got greenlighted. It went up online. But it just can’t go unremarked that Yoongi and Namjoon were not on the same wavelength. It went something like this:

Namjoon: _Do good in school kids_

Yoongi: _But school is not all that important. There are more things in life that can measure your-_

Namjoon: _-that would be all. We were BTS!_

Yeah, Jimin found it just hilarious. Taehyung and Jungkook had been too busy playing with Yoongi’s hair. Seokjin and Hoseok couldn’t care less. Namjoon felt slightly bad for cutting of Yoongi like that – he would never admit that though. He was stubborn like that, like Yoongi actually. But that’s nothing new. Which begs the question: _Gosh, what’s that noise? Why are they arguing again? What will they gain?_

-

“Why did you cut me off?” Yoongi asked, bombarding Namjoon who had been dozing off on a small metal chair in the underground parking garage. They were waiting on their cars, ready to go to their hotel. The younger ones had already taken their car. It was just them old geezers and managers making small talk in the secluded part of the parking lot.

For a second Namjoon toyed with the idea of playing dumb. _What are you talking about?_ But that would mean a longer conversation than necessary, and he was already too tired to have one.

“Because you derailed from our message,” Namjoon replied without looking at Yoongi. A few moments later black sneakers appeared near his own. Namjoon looked up and had no difficulty from this angle to look right into Yoongi’s eyes, despite his bucket hat being pushed down all the way.

“I was telling the truth,” Yoongi said, “It’s not derailing. It’s being honest.”

Namjoon clipped his lips. He hated that tone Yoongi just put on. The way he didn’t explicitly call Namjoon dishonest like he wanted to. So Namjoon spoke slowly, thinking before every word before he sounded them out. A small message like: “We _were_ already being honest with our message.”

“Oh fuck off.” See, Yoongi clearly did not think before shutting Namjoon down like that.

“The hell with it,” Namjoon said raising his tone. Yoongi’s eyes started to spark. (Yes, this was the moment that the second car arrived. Seokjin and Hoseok and some managers got in without the rappers noticing, muttering that a useless fight was taking place). Namjoon went on: “We sincerely wish people luck. That’s not lying, Yoongi.

Yoongi snorted. “Yeah, but not telling what we think is hiding.”

“It’s not hiding when the initial message doesn’t concern what you’re so stressed about,” Namjoon sat up and searched in Yoongi’s eyes to find something else than a teasing demeaner. “If we wanted to talk about the importance of the entrance exam then we would have made a totally different video.”

“Totally different my ass. These two things correlate.”

Namjoon left his mouth hang open. He wanted to refuse; disagree for the sake of it. He caught himself. He didn’t intend to get riled up by this. Yet here he was; shoulders taut and jaw clenched. He forced himself to relax. “Okay, fair enough. The subjects relate,” Namjoon said softly, “but that was not the purpose of our message.”

Yoongi stepped back and barked out a fake laugh, muttering something like “you really can’t help yourself, can you?” He looked back at Namjoon and raised his chin. A challenge. “Why not, Namjoon? It’s not that difficult. If you’d just let me finish talking-”

Namjoon shook his head and stopped listening. For the first time he really looked around. They were the last ones here – also counting their respective managers. Looking back at Yoongi Namjoon wondered where the elder found the energy to have this conversation about nothing. “-you know you’re just being difficult right now,” Namjoon interrupted him.

Yoongi shrugged. “And you know you talk like a politician.”

Namjoon frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re a people pleaser.”

“I’m not a people pleaser. I simply think before I speak.”

Yoongi sighted. The first true sign of him also not really liking this conversation. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

“No you don’t,” ironically, Namjoon said this without thinking.

Yoongi peered at Namjoon before: “What? Are you hiding that much? You're only making me more curious now.”

Namjoon merely shook his head. Their car was here. He got up and got his things. “Just, shut up and don’t make a big deal out of this. Wanna speak your thoughts? Make a nice song.”

“Ooh, you almost got me to work on my deadline. Politician, like I said.”

Namjoon stopped before they got in their car to level with Yoongi one last time. Just to be sure this wouldn’t be something he thoughtlessly dismissed. “Why are you giving me grieve right now? Did I do something?”

Yoongi grinned widely. “You wanna please me now too? I thought I was the exception.”

_Ha!_

Yoongi liked to talk a lot. Something that Namjoon had a hard time convincing people to believe. He did – to the both of this, Yoongi and Namjoon. One talking, the other trying to persuade people. Fights like this, jabs that they would never spew at anyone else on the team – it was them; it was their 10 years of hard work, it was the reciprocated respect for each other to be honest, it was the soul of their music.

All Namjoon had to do was flick Yoongi’s bucket hat off, and the dark mood got greeted by the elder’s light grey hair.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Let me know what you'd think of it and if you want to see more things like this


End file.
